Sports

West Ham suffers first Europa League defeat

Published

1 year ago

October 27, 2023

Trends Admin

West Ham suffers first Europa League defeat

WEST Ham slipped to their first Europa League defeat of the season as they were narrowly beaten at Olympiakos.

Kostas Fortounis surged through the West Ham defence and struck from 25 yards to open the scoring.

Angelo Ogbonna then turned into his own net just before the break to further deflate the Irons.

Lucas Paqueta’s brilliant volley in the 87th minute came too late with the Hammers unable to salvage something from the game.

David Moyes’ side remain top of Group A despite losing.

Olympiakos started brightly, Sotiris Alexandropoulos’ early effort forcing Alphonse Areola to save low down to his left.

The home side were winless in their past 11 Europa League games, their longest run without victory in major European competition, but there was no lack of confidence against West Ham.

The Hammers dominated possession but looked disjointed throughout, with Said Benrahma firing against the side-netting in the early stages.

James Ward-Prowse whipped a promising free-kick wide of the post, while Danny Ings got on the end of a corner but could not keep his header down and it nestled on the roof of the net.

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West Ham became the first English side to go 17 consecutive games in European competition without defeat when they won at Freiburg this month.

However, they looked lacklustre from the start in Greece with seven changes made from the team that lost 4-1 at Aston Villa on Sunday.

“Look, we changed a lot of players tonight, we’ve got the Premier League coming up and we’ve got a League Cup game next week and we’d won the first two games in the group, which gave us leeway to make changes tonight,” Moyes told whufc.com.

“I don’t think anybody could say the team we started with wasn’t a good team and wasn’t a team capable of winning or performing.

“Many of them have been very good players for us over the years and still are.”

Buoyed by a raucous home crowd, Olympiakos were on the front foot from the outset and had two early corners to show their intent.

Poor defending was to blame for both first-half goals, Konstantinos Mavropanos affording Fortounis space, whose brilliant individual effort was struck home from the edge of the box.

Ogbonna then flicked his leg at the ball following a hopeful cross swung in by Rodinei as West Ham conceded two goals in the last 15 minutes of the first half.

Paqueta halved the deficit with a superb left-footed volley into the bottom corner after Michail Antonio’s cross was only half cleared, but it was too little, too late as Moyes’ side were made to pay for an ineffectual display away from home.

This was just West Ham’s second group-stage defeat in nine such matches, and they will look to get back to winning ways when they host Olympiakos on November 9.

Sports

Gabriel Jesus shines as Arsenal thrash Palace 5-1 in London derby

Published

11 hours ago

December 22, 2024

Trends Admin

Gabriel Jesus shines as Arsenal thrash Palace 5-1 in London derby

Gabriel Jesus struck twice as Arsenal became the first side since Chelsea in 2005 to go a full calendar year unbeaten in Premier League London derbies, defeating Crystal Palace 5-1 to close the gap on league leaders Liverpool to three points for the time being.

A hat-trick against Palace in a 3-2 EFL Cup victory on Wednesday earned Jesus a starting berth here, and it took just six minutes for him to reward Mikel Arteta’s selection.

A first Premier League goal since January arrived when Bukayo Saka’s cross bounced off Gabriel Magalhães, allowing Jesus to stride towards the ball and side-foot home. A nervy moment for David Raya went unpunished moments later, but just five minutes after going ahead, the Gunners were pegged back as the red-hot Ismaïla Sarr bent an effort around William Saliba and inside the far post.

A breathless start to the contest continued with a third goal in the opening 15 minutes, and perhaps predictably, it came from an Arsenal corner. This time, Gabriel Martinelli’s delivery was partially cleared, but only as far as Jesus, whose controlled finish flew into the corner.

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Another defensive lapse from the visitors almost saw the scores levelled once more, only for Raya to bail out Saliba with a one-on-one stop to deny Jean-Philippe Mateta. At the other end, Gabriel went close from yet another Arsenal corner before the away side extended their advantage through Kai Havertz, who reacted first after Jesus had nodded onto the far post.

Needing a response, the hosts were inches from reducing the deficit straight after the restart when Raya was equal to Sarr’s diving header. The Arsenal shot-stopper was then called into action again, getting behind Mateta’s rifled long-range shot and catching Sarr’s follow-up header.

Those saves kept the Eagles at bay, and with an hour played, the points were all but wrapped up. A well-worked move should have ended with Jesus’ second hat-trick of the week, yet Henderson saved well with his foot only to see Martinelli turn in substitute Declan Rice’s resultant low strike.

Determined to get on the scoresheet, Rice guided in Arsenal’s fifth goal late on, sealing three vital points in an evening where the only major blemish was Saka’s first-half injury.

Despite conceding in a seventh consecutive away league match – their longest travelling run without a PL clean sheet in over five years – Arsenal now find themselves within touching distance of the league summit, albeit having played more games than the sides above them.

Meanwhile, Palace had lost just one of their last eight PL fixtures (W3, D4), but defeat here means they’re yet to add to their solitary home league victory (D4, L4), leaving the Eagles 15th in the table.

Gabriel Jesus shines as Arsenal thrash Palace 5-1 in London derby

Sports

Atletico grab late winner at Barcelona to go top of La Liga

Published

11 hours ago

December 22, 2024

Trends Admin

Atletico grab late winner at Barcelona to go top of La Liga

Substitute Alexander Sorloth scored an injury-time winner as Atletico Madrid fought back against Barcelona to replace them at the top of La Liga.

Pedri opened the scoring for Barcelona in the 30th minute, linking up with fellow Spain midfielder Gavi before slotting a low strike past Jan Oblak.

Despite their dominance, the hosts couldn’t hold on and Rodrigo De Paul hammered home the equaliser on the hour mark after leaping on a mistake from Marc Casado.

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Barcelona were left to rue more missed chances when Sorloth slammed in Nahuel Molina’s cross in the sixth minute of injury time to give Atletico their 12th straight win in all competitions.

The victory means Atletico will end 2024 as the top team in Spain, three points above Barcelona, who have played a game more.

Hansi Flick’s Barca side could slip to third if Real Madrid beat Sevilla on Sunday.

Atletico grab late winner at Barcelona to go top of La Liga

Sports

Oleksandr Usyk beats Tyson Fury to retain heavyweight titles

Published

12 hours ago

December 22, 2024

Trends Admin

Oleksandr Usyk beats Tyson Fury to retain heavyweight titles

Oleksandr Usyk defeated Tyson Fury to retain his unified heavyweight world titles and prove his status as a generational great with another close points win in their rematch in Saudi Arabia.

Having inflicted a first career defeat on Briton Fury by split decision in May, Usyk’s astuteness and will to win once again prevailed at Riyadh’s Kingdom Arena – and he retained his WBA (Super), WBC and WBO titles.

Fury, 36, found success in the first half of the fight. Some of the more eye-catching shots came from the Morecambe fighter, but the volume of punches and cleaner work were from Ukrainian Usyk.

All three judges scored it 116-112 to the 37-year-old champion.

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Usyk, an Olympic gold medallist and former undisputed cruiserweight champion, extended his undefeated record to 23 pro wins.

“He [Tyson Fury] is a great fighter, he is a great opponent. An unbelievable 24 rounds for my career. Thank you so much,” Usyk said.

Two-time world champion Fury has only ever lost to Usyk, his two defeats the major blemishes on a record also consisting of 34 wins and one draw.

Fury left the ring without conducting an interview, before IBF world champion Daniel Dubois climbed in and called for a rematch with Usyk.

A visibly frustrated figure in the moments after the scorecards were read out, Fury said backstage he was convinced he won the fight by “at least three rounds”.